The present invention relates to a retarding conveyor for cargo such as pallets, comprising a conveying means which can be driven in sections and carries the cargo, respective sections of the conveying means being driven by intermediate roller means driven by rotating drive means, the intermediate roller means being adjustable into a driving position or an idling position by feelers extending into the path of motion of the cargo.
According to DOS [German Unexamined Laid-Open Application] No. 2,517,015, a roller train for the conveying and stowing of cargo has been known wherein supporting rollers rotatable at right angles to the conveying direction are provided for the carrying and transporting of the cargo. Each supporting roller is associated with an intermediate roller, which latter connects, in the driving position, the supporting roller with the drive means and thus drives the supporting roller. The drive means is fashioned as a chain which is engaged by the intermediate roller with a sprocket wheel, while gear-like wheels can also be arranged for the drive transmission from the intermediate roller to the supporting roller. The intermediate rollers are joined into groups by an adjusting rail so that they can be placed into the driving position or into the idling position by the connected feeler. Thus, several supporting rollers and an identical number of intermediate rollers are provided in each section. Each of these rollers must be supported and/or arranged so that it is readily rotatable and maximally free of servicing or in need of only minimum servicing. Accordingly, for a stow roller train, a high number of such rollers is necessary, which render such a roller train relatively expensive. A stow roller train is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,788 wherein the supporting rollers of one section are driven in combination by one chain. Between the respective sections one intermediate roller is arranged which can be vertically adjusted, wherein the intermediate roller in the upper position assumes the driving position with contact on the first and last drive wheels of neighboring sections and in the lower position assumes the idling position. The intermediate rollers are constantly driven separately. Although in this stow roller train the number of intermediate rollers is reduced, the number of supporting rollers has been retained. Furthermore, the arrangement of the intermediate roller is unfavorable, since the adjusting force for adjusting the roller into the drive position must also include the contact pressure for producing the frictional connection between the intermediate roller and supporting rollers, i.e. a relatively high contact force is required. The conventional retarding conveyors are consequently voluminous in construction, expensive in servicing, and correspondingly costly in initial investment and upkeep.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to simplify a retarding conveyor while retaining the conventional high conveying and stowing volume.
This and the other objects of the present invention are attained by providing that respective sections on the conveying means in a retarding conveyor of the aforementioned type comprise at least two parallel, uninterrupted traction means, which are deflected at the ends of the section by guide wheels joined together for rotation, support means being provided on said conveyor for supporting said traction to carry cargo, and at least one of the guide wheels being driven by intermediate roller means.
An especially uniform movement of the cargo results in a further embodiment of the invention by arranging the feeler, which is fashioned as a pivotably supported roller, between two neighboring sections and by the fact that the feeler in its enforced idling position serves, due to its resting on abutments affixed to the frame, as a support for the cargo.
A high drive transmission is attained according to another feature of the invention by the fact that the traction means of the conveying means and the drive means are constructed as chains, and the intermediate roller, in addition to a sprocket wheel engaging into the drive means, also has a gear wheel which, in the driving position, meshes with a drive gear wheel connected for rotation with a guide wheel.
Advantages obtained by the present invention reside particularly in that the number of the supporting and driving rollers is greatly reduced. Each section requires, in this arrangement, merely the guide wheels for the chain hoists of the conveying means and only one intermediate roller to set the coupled together chain hoists into operation. With the reduced number of rollers, the possible error sources have likewise been drastically decreased. Thereby, such a retarding conveyor is simplified to a high degree as compared to the conventional retarding conveyers with respect to structure as well as function. On the other hand, by an adapted control of the sections, a close conveying sequence and stow density can be attained which correspond to those of the known stow roller trains. Since the chain hoists support the cargo along its entire length, a high acceleration is obtained in addition to a secure positioning of the cargo, and thus a high conveying speed results even at brief conveying periods. The retarding conveyor according to the present invention, therefore, not only represents a simplification of a retarding conveyor, but also offers, in addition to a lesser need for servicing, a high and thus economical exploitation of the stowing space as well as the driving energy.